Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr.

Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. (30 April 1790-25 March 1861) was an American linguist and theologian who was known for his involvement in the 1839 Amistad case.

Biography
Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1790, and he worked as a tutor at Yale from 1811 to 1815 following his 1809 graduation. He went on to become a professor in the department of sacred literature, retaining the post until his death in 1861. Gibbs also became a Congregational pastor, and he attempted to translate the Hebrew Bible into English, although he stopped when he discovered that another person had finished the translation already. Gibbs, however, acquired an interest in languages, and he broadened his horizons as a linguist. An active abolitionist, he took part in the Amistad case of 1839-1840, learning to count to ten in Mende by having the African captives count pennies; he recited these numbers in public until he found an interpreter, James Covey, who helped to win the case. Gibbs later compiled and published vocabularies on Mende and other West African languages, and he died in 1861.